UpGuard: RNC Firm Exposed Data Of 198 Million American Voters

[Guest]

A misconfigured database made the personal information of 198 million U.S. voters publicly available to anyone who went looking for it.

UpGuard: RNC Firm Exposed Data Of 198 Million American Voters : Read more

 

[jtd871]

Sounds like grounds for demanding the US Federal Government provide free credit monitoring for all US citizens...lol

 

[Danilushka]

Meanwhile, the Left leaks from deep in our nation's government and obstruct's justice (Lynch, Obama spying) and liberal media ignore it. But if they can pin it on a rightwing group, silence is broken...loudly.

 

[bit_user]

If they collected and modeled this data, so can anyone else. It's just a matter of $. Although, being able to download a copy for free is certainly more budget-friendly for most hackers, spammers, and scammers.

What I find more scary is the prospect that politicians' web sites can be tailored to the political views of the person browsing it. It could emphasize points you're likely to agree with, and bury positions of the candidate's you'd oppose. Web analytics companies are so sophisticated they don't even need the kind of database mentioned above. They probably already know enough about you.

 

[synphul]

As scary as this sounds, between windows/cortana, google and amazon they probably know far more about us and have it stashed away than these voter analysis companies do. Just as thieves get irritated with the government over competition, so do tech firms get irritated by competition when others are harvesting data. That's their gig.

 

[teamninja]

So lucky I didn't vote this time around, no one in my family bothered this time around.

 

[bit_user]

So lucky I didn't vote this time around, no one in my family bothered this time around.

If you're registered, then you're certainly in that database. The total number of Americans voting in the 2016 federal election was not 198 million, I'm sad to say.

http://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/324206-new-report-finds-that-voter-turnout-in-2016-topped-2012

And they care very much about people who didn't vote, that they might be able to turn out for their side.

We should consider it our civic duty to stay informed and participate. Voting is only the first step in participatory governance.

 

[ZolaIII]

Welcome to the naked America!
Now think about it do you want a end to end encryption?

 

[bit_user]

Welcome to the naked America!
Now think about it do you want a end to end encryption?

The lack or weakness of available encryption wasn't the problem. It was probably just a case of recklessness and irresponsibility.

The 4th Amendment of the US Constitution protects against spying on the citizens by the government (without probable cause, at least), but these protections don't extend to online data collection by private individuals or corporations. What we need are laws establishing individuals' rights over their data and rules & requirements applying to anyone holding that data.

I'm not optimistic, since personal data has become the lifeblood of the online economy. The combined valuation of all the businesses trading on this stuff probably ranges into the tens of $Trillions.

 

[therealduckofdeath]

Hey, Danilushka, don't use your actual Russian account when you're spinning your typical B on the internet. It kind of makes everything you say sound too comical.